Synchrotron X-ray microtomography has been used for the three-dimensional characterization of microstructure in the cell walls of aluminum foams. A combination of high-resolution phase contrast imaging technique and several application techniques has enabled the quantitative image analyses of microstructures as well as the assessment of their effects on deformation behaviors. The application techniques include local area tomography, microstructural gauging and in-situ observation using a specially designed material test rig. It has been clarified that ductile buckling of a cell wall occurs regardless of any of the microstructural factors in the case of a pure aluminum foam, while rather brittle fracture of a cell wall is induced by the existence of coarse micropores and their distribution independently of the intermetallic particles and the grain boundary in the case of aluminum foams alloyed with Zn and Mg. It has also been confirmed that coarse TiH 2 particles, which are a residual foaming agent added to alloy melts, remain intact during the deformation. When cooling rate during foaming is high, however, lower energy absorption might be attributable to the significant amount of residual TiH 2 particle and its inhomogeneous distribution. These tendencies are also confirmed by three-dimensional strain mapping by tracking internal microstructural features.

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The deformation behavior near room temperature in Zn-22 mass%Al alloy including nanocrystalline structure produced with Thermo Mechanical Controlling Process (TMCP) technology has been characterized over a wide range of strain rates from 10 −6 to 10 −1 s −1 at temperatures from 273 to 473 K. The microstructure of TMCP produced Zn-22 mass%Al alloy had both a random distribution of equiaxed Al-rich and Zn-rich phases with grain size of 1.3 µm and many nanocrystalline Zn particles in Al-rich phases. Since the flow stress in the deformation near room temperature was much larger than that in superplastic deformation and a maximum m value is only 0.3 (n = 3) at low strain rates below 10 −5 s −1 , the pure superplastic behavior may not be observed near room temperature. However it is noted that the large elongation of ∼ 200% was observed at 10 −5 s −1 . From microstructural observations of the specimens tested in the condition with the m value of 0.3 near room temperature, furthermore, it is considered that grain boundary sliding (GBS) is the dominant deformation process, and the specimen may be fractured by cavitation as well as the conventional superplastic materials. Therefore, it seems that the various factors contribute to the deformation flow at room temperature.

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